


Timetagger 3

by rosebud1000



Series: Miraculous Drabbles and One-shots [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, Aged Up, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Established Relationship, F/M, LadyNoir - Freeform, Marichat, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, but only for like 2 seconds, good parent adrien agreste
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23076463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosebud1000/pseuds/rosebud1000
Summary: Years after Hawkmoth's defeat, Marinette and Adrien encounter Timetagger for the third time. And this battle hits closer to home than any other.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Miraculous Drabbles and One-shots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1659745
Comments: 5
Kudos: 208





	Timetagger 3

For the first time in nearly six years, screams broke through Paris. Marinette looked up from the fabric she was pinning. It was impossible. The butterfly miraculous was safe in the box. So was the peafowl. The only two not in the box were hers and the cat’s.

“Ready on set?” Across the sound stage, a green screen was set up, actors in place. Marinette was working on building her own fashion line, but costume design had been the safer option, for the time being. She enjoyed it, and had no trouble breaking in due to her experience with Jagged Stone. Now, she was the head (or co-head) of the design department more often than not.

“What’s going on?” one of the actors asked.

“Doesn’t matter. We’ve got a deadline to meet,” the producer replied.

“Is it an akuma?”

Marinette sighed. Whatever it was, it looked like Paris would be needing Ladybug today. She pushed another pin through the fabric, deliberately too close to her finger.

“Ow,” she said. “Will you guys be alright on your own? I need to get a band-aid” The costume team nodded, hardly caring about her excuse. She left the set carefully, opening her bag as soon as it was safe.

“Tikki?” The creature peeked her head out of Marinette’s bag. “Spots on.”

Adrien was already there, leaping through the air towards the akuma.

“Long time no see, Bugaboo,” he remarked casually. She flung her yoyo across the street.

“And yet I just told you not to call me that this morning.”

“Really? I must not’ve heard you.”

Ladybug bit back a retort, instead directing them towards the matter at hand.

“Do you have any idea what’s going on?”

“Nope. Although I have a _feline_ we’ll find out soon.”

Despite the pun, he was right. As they approached the Louvre, it became clear who they were up against. Again.

“Timetagger?”

“How’d he get here?”

Ladybug didn’t have time to form a reply, or even think about it. He shot a date at her, and she jumped out of the way, putting more distance between her and Chat. Catching his eye, she shook the earpiece out of her yoyo, then put it in. He did the same with his.

“Look out, milady,” his voice crackled through the earpiece. She swung herself onto a rooftop, narrowly avoiding another attack.

“That’s not going to work,” she warned, watching him swing his baton at the villain.

“No, but it’d be nice to get him where there are less people.”

“Chase him somewhere we can talk to him? I like your thinking, minou.”

“What can I say? A cat’s always ready to pounce.” He grinned at her, then started in pursuit of Timetagger.

They ran along the roofs, leading Timetagger away from the busy street filled with tourists.

“So, what do you think is up with him?”

Ladybug attempted a hit to the villain, knowing she’d miss when he zapped through time. “I don’t know. And we have to be careful, we don’t know where this is in his timeline. We can’t give him any information he doesn’t already have.”

“Couldn’t agree more.” Chat Noir blocked Timetagger with his stick, only for him to zap away and avoid it. “But we do know it’s before the first time we faced him.”

Ladybug nodded, then realized he probably hadn’t seen her. “Yes, and after the second time.”

“Third time’s the charm?” he asked.

“Not yet, minou. Wouldn’t want to waste my luck.”

“Waste? I wasn’t aware we were back to one-time powers.”

She smiled to herself. Even though she knew she hadn’t really missed him, there was something about fighting with him that gave her nostalgia.

“We don’t need to defeat him. Just get him to go to when we first met him,” she said.

“Okay… but why’d he come here?”

“I don’t know.” She shot her yoyo at him, just entertaining whatever ideas the villain had about winning.

“It seems like a bad plan, especially with no Hawkmoth around,” Chat Noir remarked. “Unless…”

“He thought we wouldn’t have our Miraculous.”

“Stole the words from my mouth, princess.”

“Oh, am I back to being princess now?” She hadn’t heard that one in a long time- not since a certain someone stole the title.

“I’m sorry, _my queen,_ ” he corrected.

“Watch out,” she warned, and he sidestepped the next blow with ease. Honestly. Now she could see why Timetagger had gone back in time. Not only were their powers stronger, they were also smarter as adults, too.

“Uh, Ladybug? Are you paying attention to where we are?”

What? Why was he saying that? They were somewhere with fewer tourists, like he wanted. She broke her eyes away from the fight just long enough to study their surroundings. Shit.

The side of a familiar building was just within sight. The side of a certain elementary school. She sighed. They’d managed to lead him to the last place either of them wanted a fight. Chat Noir landed atop the school, doing what he could to fend off Timetagger. He looked nervous, an expression surely mirrored by her own. It was time to get serious about this, and fast.

“I have a plan,” Ladybug said.

“Without a charm?”

“We might not need one.” She could feel his surprise from here, but ignored it. What mattered was getting Timetagger out of here, and away from the school.

“Hey, Timetagger!” she yelled. He turned towards her. Perfect. “Came here hoping for an easy fight? If you couldn’t outsmart us from seven years ago, what makes you think you can outsmart us now?”

Chat Noir caught on quickly. “Hoping we’d be powerless? ‘Cause actually, I’m feeling more powerful than ever right now. Might even call up a catacl-”

“Oh, like that’d help. I’m sure a couple of fallen buildings wouldn’t stop him,” Ladybug interrupted. Really, it wasn’t that much of a bluff. And the more powerful he thought future-heroes were, the quicker he’d decide to face their past selves.

Timetagger was getting closer to Chat, and the school. Ladybug swung down past the building. Hundreds of little faces pressed against windows, gaping at the fabled hero. Her eyes lingered a moment too long, searching for the face she knew, so that Chat had to pull her out of the way of another blow.

“She’ll be okay,” he muttered softly, before letting go of her and jumping in the opposite direction. “We’re gonna need some ladybugs to clean this mess up, though, milady,” he added loud enough for anyone close by to hear. She nodded, looking around at various bent railings and dented cars.

“Lucky Charm!” It was easy enough to figure out what to do with the bullhorn.

“C’mon, is that all you’ve got?” she yelled into it.

Timetagger turned back around, glaring at her.

“You look pretty young, I could deakumitize you in a pinch. You shouldn’t be picking on heroes so much older than you. And I’m guessing your akuma is right…”

She didn’t even have to finish the sentence before he’d made up his mind. In an instant, he was gone, about to be beaten by a teen-aged Ladybug and Chat, with the help of Bunnyx.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” She threw her charm up into the air, watching with satisfaction as the ladybugs whizzed through the air. “Chat Noir?” He’d disappeared. “Minou?” 

There he was, in an alley, not even detransformed yet. She dropped next to him silently, then held out her fist. “Bien joué?”

He didn’t respond. She sat next to him. “What’s the matter, minou?”

“I just… I don’t understand.” Tears were falling down his face; she pressed a hand to his cheek. “I really thought she was in danger. Timetagger was on the roof, and… I was so scared, Marinette.”

“Spots off.” Chat Noir’s clawed hand reached toward hers, spots fading away in a burst of magic.

“How could he have done that? All those years? He didn’t know it was me, but… akumatized villains targeted me. Adrien, that is.”

Marinette paused. “Can you detransform?” she asked. He nodded, and the hero was replaced with her husband once again.

“I don’t have any cheese for you, Plagg,” he said. “Sorry.”

“You can have a croissant, though,” Marinette offered. Tikki was already munching happily on the pain au chocolat she’d made last night.

They sat in silence for a minute, ignoring Plagg’s mumbling about how the croissant would be improved by the addition of cheese.

“I always thought I’d understand him better, when I’d have kids. But I don’t. I understand him less now. Before, it was easier to explain away. To pretend I could see inside his head. But now… and after what just happened…” He was crying again, hands covering his face.

“It’s okay, minou,” Marinette whispered. She pulled him into a hug. “You deserved so much better than what you got.”

“I’m only just now realizing what I should’ve had,” he said, tucking his chin onto her shoulder.

Across the street, the school was swarmed with nervous parents picking their kids up early, and excited kids recounting what it was like to see _the_ Ladybug and Chat Noir. Of course, most of them had no memories of the heroes’ time in Paris- they’d only heard about them from parents or siblings, seen old news footage, and swapped cheap merchandise.

“Think we should go get her?” Marinette asked, nodding to the school.

“Just a minute more?”

“Okay.” She could stay like this all day, with Adrien tucked safely onto her.

But they had to stand up eventually, Adrien offering her a hand and a cat-like grin.

“Milady?”

Smiling, she stood and took his hand.

“It’s never going to get easier, is it?” he asked.

“Maybe it’s not supposed to.”

As they crossed the street, the bell rang, and the kids who hadn’t been taken home early fled the building.

“You’ll never believe what happened!” A little ball of energy shrieked, barrelling into Adrien.

“Won’t I? You’ll have to tell me to find out, princess.”

**Author's Note:**

> So I had this idea and wanted to practice writing action... the pacing feels a bit off, but I can't be bothered to fix it.


End file.
